Christopher Pekny, a future 28-year-old father from New York, died after a device he was building for his son’s gender reveal party exploded, officials said.
New York State Police responded to reports of an explosion at a residence in the city of Liberty at 11:55 am on Sunday. Authorities said the gender reveal device Pekny was building exploded, killing him and injuring his 27-year-old brother, Michael Pekny.
The state police and the bomb disposal unit are investigating the incident.
Authorities did not specify what type of device Pekny was building for the party. A New York State Police spokesman told BuzzFeed News on Monday: “There are currently no charges to be filed.”
This is not the first time that exploits of gender disclosure by families have become deadly.
Last September, a California firefighter died while fighting a major fire that was triggered by a pyrotechnic device used in a family’s gender reveal event. The El Dorado fire burned more than 19,000 acres, destroyed homes and forced hundreds to flee their homes.
And in 2019, a 56-year-old grandmother was killed when her family made a bomb that exploded while planning a gender reveal event. The family gathered at their home to try different types of explosives so they could film the ad on social media.